


dragons & reconnecting

by sqacey



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Charlie's adopted child is a baby dragon, Gen, Mostly it's just percy & charlie bonding moments, There's a baby dragon too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-23 23:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20898044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sqacey/pseuds/sqacey
Summary: Percy appears in the dragon encampment Charlie's working in one day after complete radio silence for three years. They have a talk about things neither of them want to face, and hang out with Charlie's adopted baby dragon.





	dragons & reconnecting

“I don't know why you can to me, of all people in our family.” Charlie was hand-feeding an obviously young dragon chunks of raw meat, not looking at his younger brother.

“I just figured…” Percy stopped mid sentence, watching his brother interact with the dragon for a moment before restarting his thought, “I haven't seen you in so long.”

Charlie was silent. He picked up the baby dragon gently and set it in his lap, listening to it's soft purring noise for a few minutes.

“Perce, we both know that's an excuse. You haven't seen anyone in our family for a long time, and I'm the furthest away.” He looked at his brother for the first time since Percy walked into the camp, “Why did you really come here?”

Percy swallowed and looked at the baby dragon so he didn't have to watch his brother’s face. “I want to apologise. You seemed like the easiest person to start with.” 

Charlie adjusted the baby dragon in his lap so he could hold it with one arm, using his other hand to cover his mouth as he stifled a laugh.

“I'm not the one you need to apologise to, Perce. I've never been  _ angry _ at you. Disappointed? Yea, definitely. But not angry.” He stopped laughing and brushed the loose hair behind his ears, fixing the ponytail that held the rest of his hair out of his face with his free hand afterwards..

“You sound like our parents.” Percy finally looked up at his brother, smiling slightly.

“Yea? Then talking to them should be easy too.” Charlie moved closer to his brother. He pulled a chunk of meat from a bag at his side and held it out to Percy. “You can feed him, if you want. He'll love you forever if you do.” Charlie scratched the baby dragon’s chin for a moment.

Percy nodded and held the meat up for the dragon, “Like this?” Charlie shook his head, “Palm flat, like you're feeding a dog a treat.” He pushed his brother’s fingers down and Percy flattened his hand out. The dragon sniffed Percy’s hand for a moment curiously, looking back at Charlie and waiting for a nod, before it ate the chunk of meat. He jumped slightly, startled, when the dragon licked his hand, probably looking for more.

Charlie laughed, “He won't bite. I've been hand-raising him since he hatched.” Charlie scooped the small dragon back up in his arms and held him like one would hold a baby, “He was rejected by his mother, so I took him in.” The dragon cooed softly, reaching its claws up towards Charlie’s face, “He wouldn’t have survived otherwise.” Charlie softly kissed the dragon’s tiny head as he adjusted the hatchling so he was holding it with one arm. His now free hand rested on the dragons chest gently.

Percy laughed at his brother, “How does mom feel about her new grandson?” He reached to pet the dragon, hesitating for a moment as he looked at Charlie. Charlie nodded, giving Percy the confirmation he needed to pet the dragon. The dragon twisted its body around and bumped its head against Percy’s hand, enjoying the attention.

Charlie shrugged, “She doesn't know about him yet. It'll be interesting next time I visit, that's for sure.” The dragon struggled out of Charlie's arms when Percy stopped petting it and landed on the ground. It started chasing a butterfly that made the mistake of flying into the closed off area, and Charlie leaned back to watch silently.

“When was the last time  _ you _ visited home?” Percy looked at Charlie. They both looked at the baby dragon, who had successfully caught the butterfly and had learned that they did not taste as good as looked. It spit out the remains of what it had caught with apparent disgust and went to digging in the dirt and leaves instead.

“Not since the war, I guess.” Charlie swallowed, hands tensing in the dirt behind him, “Can't bring myself to go. Not since…” He trailed off sadly. Percy knew what he meant. 

“That’s almost three years, Charlie. We could go back together, then. Mom and Dad would be happy to see you again, and I can apologise to everyone, and-” Charlie cut Percy off quickly, “I can't. I have things to do here.” He picked up the baby dragon from where it was digging in the dirt and held it in his lap. The dragon protested for a moment before deciding that it was tired and curled up in Charlie’s lap.

“There's other people here, right? You can take a week off. You're going to have to face it eventually.”

Charlie nervously laughed, gently running his hands down the dragon’s back. “I should be the one giving you advice, Perce. I know I  _ should _ , but I clearly am in no position for that.”

“Maybe seeing everyone who’s still…. Maybe seeing everyone will give you closure. And you'll have him.” Percy gestured to the baby dragon sleeping in Charlie’s lap, “Your emotional support dragon.” Percy leaned against his brother's side, like how they'd sleep on long car rides and the train ride to Hogwarts when they were kids. Before everything happened.

“...Yea, I guess you're right, Perce.” Charlie sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he had to do that at some point. “I'll go back when you do. Just need a cat carrier big enough for this little guy. Don't want any muggles seeing a dragon in the airport.” 

Percy laughed softly, “That'd be an interesting thing to explain.” Neither of them made any move to get up-- Charlie was content to wait until the hatching was awake and Percy didn’t really want to face the reality that he’d be going home and having to face the rest of his family soon, even with knowing that none of them would hold much against him.

* * *

The hatchling had perched itself on Charlie’s shoulder, watching everything with wide eyes. It was silent as its tail swished against Charlie’s back, and it’s claws lightly dug through Charlie’s scarf and into his shoulder in order to keep its balance. Charlie had taken the dragon out of the cat carrier when they were out of eyesight of any muggles, he hated keeping the dragon locked up if he didn’t have to. The empty carrier was in one of his hands, banging against his leg as he walked. Percy walked beside him, both of their respective suitcases in his hands.

“Ready?” Percy asked, looking at his brother. “We’re almost there.” 

Charlie nodded, “I should be asking you that.” 

Both of them were nervous, as neither of them had visited home since the end of the war, and Charlie had only sent two letters in the almost three years since he'd seen his family, claiming he had “no time” to visit because of his work with the dragons. Percy hadn't tried to send letters at all.

And now they were simply dropping by unannounced, a few days before christmas.

Percy was the one to knock on the door. First, one knock, and then a second knock a few moments later when they heard no one coming to the door.

George was the one who opened the door in the end. 

He looked surprised that even  _ one _ of them was there, let alone both. 

After George got over the momentary shock he spoke to them, not seeming to notice that the hatchling on Charlie. The dragon was currently burying itself into Charlie’s scarf, mostly hidden from direct view, so it was understandable that George didn’t notice the dragon.

“You guys came at the best time. Everyone is home right now.” George pulled Charlie and then Percy into a hug. “They’re all in the living room.” He moved to the side to let them in before following behind his brothers.

Charlie shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked into the living room. He could how the baby dragon shifted it’s weight against his shoulder and neck as he walked, keeping its balance with the occasional clenching of its claws against his shoulder. He was more nervous than he should be, and he could tell that the dragon knew he was nervous. 

The dragon made a soft purring noise against his neck in an attempt to comfort him, and Charlie smiled softly. He reached up a hand to give the dragon a quick, soft petting, before stuffing that hand back in his pocket.

When they walked in everyone just looked at them for a moment, looking like they didn’t fully comprehend Charlie and Percy being  _ there _ . Back in the living room of the house. The dragon pressed itself deeper into Charlie’s scarf, hiding even more, and Charlie wished he could hide like that as well.

He felt like a caged animal, like he was on display for everyone else’s amusement. He wanted to shrink down and hide, he just wanted to turn around and go back down south to the dragon encampment he worked at and bury his face into one of the larger dragons there. 

In that particular moment, he wanted to be anywhere but his family’s living room.

Everyone was there, too. His whole family, both those related by blood and those that weren’t. His whole family, minus one person. He knew that none of them hated him, not at all, but he couldn’t help but feel like they did.

His siblings were on the couch, paused mid-board game and mid-conversation. His parents were in the kitchen, watching them from over the counter. He knew they would be happy to see him, but he wasn’t ready to face them. George slipped past him and Percy to go sit on the arm of the couch, and Charlie saw his brother’s nervousness as he did so. Nervousness about what, he was unsure.

Bill was the first one to approach them. He stared at Charlie, and then at Percy. Charlie looked at the ground, swallowing back his fear that threatened to bubble up and explode into a full-blown anxiety attack.

“It’s been three years.” Bill stared at them both as he spoke. He moved to stand in front of Charlie, “Your last letter was from two years ago.” Charlie felt some kind of anger in his brother’s voice as he spoke, “ Mom’s been so worried about you, especially since you’ve been working with wild dragons all these years.” Charlie winced. He didn’t want to look at his older brother, couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes.

Charlie saw Bill move to stand in front of Percy, “And we never got anything from you, Perce.” Charlie could hear anger leaving Bill’s voice, heard it starting to soften.

“Would it have killed either of you to send any letters just so we’d know you two were _ alive _ .” Charlie heard Bill’s voice shaking as he spoke. Bill hugged Charlie tightly first, holding onto him for a moment. Charlie buried his face into his brother’s shoulder for a moment in return. He missed him, even if he had been scared of coming back here. 

“I missed you, Charlie. We all did.” Bill whispered to him before letting go and moving to hug Percy tightly as well. Charlie felt tears wet on his cheeks. He didn’t remember starting to cry.

The hatchling chirped from Charlie’s shoulder softly and he smiled. The dragon untangled itself from his scarf and nuzzled his cheek gently, comfortingly.

Bill went back to the couch and sat down again, “Come sit down, we have a lot of catching up to do.” He smiled slightly, “And you have to tell us about your new friend.” He gestured towards the dragon. 

Charlie laughed into his hand. “He’s the newest family member!” Charlie set down the cat carrier at the entrance and went to sit down by the couch. Percy followed behind him, setting the suitcases to the side. 

Both of them sat down by their family and just talked. Talked about what everyone had been up to since the last time they were all together, talked about what was new, just talked about anything they could. 

They just enjoyed being together, as a family.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I actually started writing this like... over a year ago and then returned to it recently cause I was reading through old things I started and then never finished. I just have strong feelings regarding Percy and Charlie and I always need more content w them so I made some myself lol
> 
> anyways i dont really write very often cause i dont think im very good at it but like.... i might revisit this concept At Some Point if theres enough demand for it? just in like, short oneshots tho i dont have the motivation for anything longer lol


End file.
